“The victim says to herself that she has nothing to be ashamed of, that shame must change sides” – Libération

The trial of 51 men accused of raping Gisèle P., including her husband who had organized the crimes, opened on Monday, September 2 at the Vaucluse departmental criminal court. On the first day, the victim obtained publicity for the proceedings, in order to “raise awareness as widely as possible.”

Gisèle P. kept her face closed when her ex-husband, from whom she has been officially divorced since Monday, September 2, entered the dock, leaning on a crutch, his back hunched. She barely let out a discreet sigh in the tense silence, her gaze hidden by sunglasses with dark lenses. Beside her on the civil parties’ benches, her daughter and two sons. The family arrived together in the courtroom of the Avignon courthouse, on the first day of Dominique P.’s trial. None of them had seen him since he was taken into custody four years ago. Wearing a black T-shirt and white hair, Dominique P. largely avoided the gaze of his ex-wife and children, letting nothing show, very calm. “I, who know him, felt a real emotion, his lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, will comment during a break. During this trial, he will be in the reality of the facts, without seeking to exonerate himself.” For several years, behind the appearance of a retired man with no history, he raped his wife by first giving her medication to put her to sleep, and recruited men on the Internet to do the same.

This Monday morning, 50 other defendants appear before the Vaucluse departmental criminal court, most of them for “aggravated rape.”